Well, Sharon, we're also going to be talking about something that a lot of CRNAs are going to 1099 for, and that is to pay off debt. That's a good feeling to pay off debt. Yep. Yep. You know, but we're seeing a lot more people out there incurring debt. You know, CRNAs, as I always say, they're the smartest people I know. Where do you get that from? I don't know, but they really are. They really are. They really are, but you're copying me. But you're not taught about this stuff. The financial stuff is not, you know, it's not something that's taught to you along the way, and then it becomes left brain, right brain. And unfortunately, we see a lot of CRNAs get in trouble with debt. And we're also seeing, you know, young graduates getting out of school, and they're coming out with $250,000 in debt, and they want to get it paid off as soon as possible. So basically, today, we're going to talk about how can we do that? How can we pay off debt earlier? What are some strategies that we can employ, and that's really the crux of this section today. So we're going to jump right into it. Okay. So the first thing we're going to talk about is this debt snowball strategy. Have you heard of this before, Sharon? I think so, but why don't you tell me more? Well, it's a strategy where you pay off the smallest to largest value. That's the Dave Ramsey thing, right? Very similar to what Dave Ramsey is, we're going to tweak it up a little bit. Okay. You're not paying attention to the interest rate, and you say, why not? Well, you know, for a lot of people, if you've got a big debt out there, and you start paying that debt off that has the highest interest rate, and you continue on, it's a psychological thing. You never see that get paid off until later. Well, this way, you're paying off the smallest debt first, so you're like, oh, you know what? I got rid of that bills card, only owed $800, and I'm on to that, and then you go on to the next thing. So it's as much psychological as it is really financial speaking. So how do you do this? You know, what we try to get people to do first is make a list, who do I owe, and what is the interest rate on every one, and what are my minimum payments, okay? So then what we'll do is we'll have you segregate that out. So we got our list, our spreadsheet, however you want to do it. If you're a spreadsheet person, it's a great way to do it. And then we'll make minimum payments on everything except the smallest debt. So usually we'll ask, you know, how much additional can you pay towards your debt, and I'll give you an example of that here in just a minute. And we take that plus the minimum payment, and we put it on the smallest debt. We do that until that debt is paid off. And then we take that amount, and we roll it into the next smallest debt, and you continue that pattern, which isn't very hard, until all your debt is paid off. And it's amazing how quickly you get into this. And what I see a lot of times is we'll ask people for how much they can afford to put towards their debt, and they'll start to say, oh, you know what, I started out only $500. I can put another, I can put $1,000 on there. And then they get into it, and I'm like, oh, well, gosh, I'm starting to see these things get paid off. I can do $1,500. Or you know, so you start to build this strategy, because this is one of the biggest impediments to being financially successful out there, is having debt. Why do you think, Sharon, they give all these credit cards to students? Oh, don't you think I know? Yeah. Because they want to keep them in debt, and the credit card companies are charging 18, 20, 22% interest. I don't know about you, but if I can get a guaranteed 18, 20, or 22% interest, I'd do it all day long. Heck, yeah. And twice on Sunday. Yes. But let's take a look now at how this strategy actually works. So we're going to go, and this is a real life strategy, okay? So this person had a credit card, number one here, with $6,000 balance, 11% interest, and another one with 8,000. It was a 10% interest, and you can see the minimum payment. They had $100,000 of student loan debt at four and a half. And then they had a mortgage of $225,000, and their goal was to be completely debt-free. Not just free from revolving credit, not just free from student loan debt. They really wanted to be debt-free forever, and they wanted to retire earlier with no debt. They had a very robust plan of what the future looked like for them, and they were going to use the 1099 strategy in order to do this. So we asked them, we said, how much additional can you afford to pay per month? So we came up with, and you see under credit card number one, they said we could put an extra $1,500 a month on our debt. So we took that $100 plus the $1,500, $1,600, and we basically paid off that credit card in four months. Okay. Then we rolled that $1,600 forward to credit card number two. So now we're paying $1,750 a month on that credit card, $8,000 balance. We paid it off in five months. So now it's been nine months. We got two credit cards paid off. Pretty good. That's good. And, you know, again, what I find is as people start to do this, they really start, and then they start putting more money on it. But they kept with their original plan here. So now we take the $1,750. We move that over to the student loan debt, and the student loan debt is $100,000. So you are already paying them $1,000 a month on that student loan debt. So now we're paying $2,750 a month. So in 37 months, we've now got that $100,000 paid off. So it took us about three years to do it. And just as a sidebar, most times when we're looking at, you know, new grads coming out doing 1099, and they do it because they want to pay off this debt, you know, they might have some credit card, but the main one for them is the student loan debt. And I alluded to this earlier. You know, we're seeing student loan balances upwards of $200,000 now. So I will tell you, our goal for them is for them within two to three years to have that completely paid off. And by utilizing 1099, especially right now in this environment, almost 100% of the time we do one of these, they're done under three years, usually in two and a half or two. Yeah, I believe that's what my son-in-law, who's a CRNA, he did that. Actually, I think y'all helped him, his plan for that. And they also paid off my daughter's student loans from law school. Yep, they did. And they're doing great. Yes. So, so now, you know, it's been 46 months, you know, not even four years, and we paid off, you know, all the debt up to the mortgage. So now they owe $225,000 on the mortgage. We rolled that $2,750 into it on top of the $1,500, $4,250, now Sharon, do you know what the average age of a grad of SRNA school is right now? 30? I don't know. 31. Ah, I was pretty close. 31. So now, you're 31 years old, this is your scenario, by 39, you're making $200,000 to $400,000, and you're completely debt free. That's nice. Do you think that would change the trajectory of your life? Do you think that that would say, well, you know what, I'm going to work because I want to, not because I have to. That's a great place to be at. Absolutely. I mean, so a lot of times debt is the reason that we have to continue working as hard as we do. And if we can formulate a debt plan, whatever that is, you know, if you're utilizing 1099 to pay off debt, this is a very simplistic, easy to follow example, and everybody's going to be different. But there's no doubt in my mind that for most people making what 1099s are making these days, especially if you're a new grad, and you're going from making goose eggs, to making $350,000 to $450,000 a year, this is a wonderful strategy. And even if you're not a new grad, you know, say you're, you know, you're more seasoned CRNA heading into retirement, and you've accumulated some debt, maybe you're five years, 10 years away, and you want to go into retirement debt free. Another strategy that we've seen there. So these are, these are things that I think, you know, a lot of CRNAs need to be thinking about as they enter the 1099 profession is, how can I put myself on track for financial success? And Sharon, we all know, the CRNA industry is cyclical, you know, right now the future is bright. Yep. But if you can utilize, you know, I always say make hay while the sun shines, right? Absolutely. And if you can make hay while the sun is shining, CRNAs are in demand, CRNAs are making great money, utilize that to get you where you want to go personally. And this is one strategy to do that. But Sharon, the other thing is, let's just take a look at this, you know, these credit cards we talked about earlier. This is an example of really what a credit card can cost you. And a lot of people don't think of it this way, but let's say you got a $30,000 balance on a credit card. Oh my God, that's shocking. Sharon, I see it all the time. Oh my gosh. I would, I would, I wouldn't be able to sleep. You'd be shocked. I probably would, but I would be shocked. Right now I'm carrying a little balance on my credit card because of the, uh, the robbery in San Francisco and getting all my electronics back and I'm, my heart's having a seizure. Well, you know, in this example, 18% interest, your, your minimum monthly payment is $541. So it's going to take you 10 years to pay off that credit card. So over a 10 year period, that $30,000 costs you $64,000 in payments. But wait a minute, that's just your payments. Because remember when you're spending money someplace, there's an opportunity cost somewhere else. Yes. So if you could take this, and again, you know, all these are examples, we're not giving any specific financial advice or anything throughout this presentation, but if you take that $541 and invest it somewhere, getting an 8% rate of return over that same 10 year period, you'd have $99,634. So that $30,000 credit card, you would have had 99 instead of being out 64, $164,500 difference. That's significant. That's the problem with credit cards. That's the problem with debt. So making sure that you're paying that off and utilizing 1099 is a great way to do it, Shan.

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1099 strategy

debt snowball

financial freedom

high-interest credit card debt